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I haven't seen this episode in years, but decided to watch it a few days ago - it is pretty terrible that it starts out as Chakotay focused episode, with Chakotay interested in the Ares IV, but then the writers completely shift the focus onto Seven. They couldn't even wait for Chakotay to get out of Sickbay to attend the funeral?

Chakotay always gets the shaft and by the end of the series didn't everything pretty much focus on Seven? lol. I liked the Seven character and watching her evolve from a drone to a human, but I didn't like that suddenly most episodes became ultimately about her.

This episode was kind of sweet that they are paying respects to those who came before them. But it came to a point where it seemed as though they were almost risking their lives for a dead guy (not to be crude or offensive).

The episode did have me on edge because, even though I obviously knew they would escape, it was suspenseful.

__________________Once there was a grocery man whose name was simply Louie...until the day his store blew up and his produce went kablewie.

But wasn't that the point? To risk their lives for knowledge, in this case knowledge not just for an unusual phenomenon but for a "dead guy" who in the space of an hour became all too real to Seven and Tom and Chakotay as they listened to his voice and his stories.

That's why I absolutely love the ending, despite some people's interpretation that Seven was upstaging the corpse at his funeral.

SEVEN: The Yankees, in six games.

To me that line and Tom's smile meant that the "dead guy", even if only for a few moments, once again lived for these people. Once again "mattered" to his community, beyond just being a name and a mission date.

__________________"But life is a battle: may we all be enabled to fight it well!" Charlotte Bronte

I haven't seen this episode in years, but decided to watch it a few days ago - it is pretty terrible that it starts out as Chakotay focused episode, with Chakotay interested in the Ares IV, but then the writers completely shift the focus onto Seven. They couldn't even wait for Chakotay to get out of Sickbay to attend the funeral?

I thought Tom was supposed to be the mars expert, nostalgia buff anyway.....i think they just needed a Chokatay episode didn't they (series 6 and 7 is almost all Seven or the doctor) so he got this one even though Paris probably shouldv'e been the trigger for Seven's realisation that exploration for explorations sake is blah bla blah (see sig)

But wasn't that the point? To risk their lives for knowledge, in this case knowledge not just for an unusual phenomenon but for a "dead guy" who in the space of an hour became all too real to Seven and Tom and Chakotay as they listened to his voice and his stories.

That's why I absolutely love the ending, despite some people's interpretation that Seven was upstaging the corpse at his funeral.

SEVEN: The Yankees, in six games.

To me that line and Tom's smile meant that the "dead guy", even if only for a few moments, once again lived for these people. Once again "mattered" to his community, beyond just being a name and a mission date.

I do agree with you. I was not trying to say that it was not worth it for them and I do enjoy this episode. I just thought (at least the first time I watched it) that it came all too close to risking their own lives...because I had grown to love the Voyager characters and this episode had me worried for them even though...I knew that by the end of the episode, that they would all be back.

And yes I do love Seven's line at the end about the Yankees.

__________________Once there was a grocery man whose name was simply Louie...until the day his store blew up and his produce went kablewie.

I haven't seen this episode in years, but decided to watch it a few days ago - it is pretty terrible that it starts out as Chakotay focused episode, with Chakotay interested in the Ares IV, but then the writers completely shift the focus onto Seven. They couldn't even wait for Chakotay to get out of Sickbay to attend the funeral?

I thought Tom was supposed to be the mars expert, nostalgia buff anyway.....i think they just needed a Chokatay episode didn't they (series 6 and 7 is almost all Seven or the doctor) so he got this one even though Paris probably shouldv'e been the trigger for Seven's realisation that exploration for explorations sake is blah bla blah (see sig)

It's true they needed to bring Chakotay's character back in the limelight a little towards the end. About the shift of focus at the end of the series towards Seven and the Doctor...even though I didn't agree with everything suddenly centering around Seven...I must admit I love the Doctor and can't get enough of him. I never get sick of the Doctor! Not only is he the source of much needed sarcasm and comic relief, but he pushes the bounds of what we think of when we hear the word "human" or "person". Seven, even though she was Borg, is still a human. The Doctor was not and still managed to learn and adapt and be creative. I love that. And Robert Picardo is just so hilarious. I couldn't imagine anyone else playing that character.

In this episode...even though it started out as being Chakotay's "thing", it became a turning point for Seven in her discovery of her own humanity. So, in that sense, I think the ending was okay. They DID after all risk their lives (more severely than usual) to recover that shuttle and the astronaut, so he was already fully respected. Seven's line at the end was FOR the man! Yes, they should have waited a little while...until Chakotay was out of sickbay haha. But, he already got what he wanted. He wanted to bring the shuttle and the man to Voyager for a proper space funeral and they succeeded. So, even if he was in sickbay, I think he was satisfied with the results.

__________________Once there was a grocery man whose name was simply Louie...until the day his store blew up and his produce went kablewie.

I liked this episode for the idea that they find this ship from home (although they seemed to do a lot of that on Voyager... the floating car from '37s, the '37s themselves, the 8472 San Francisco, the Voth, etc).

This episode does feature one of my trek-tech pet peeves, though. Seven downloads the contents of the Ares to her tricorder via... via what? bluetooth? Wifi? She just kinda opens it up and it gains access to a system that's 300 years old. Interoperability of devices is one of those "made-for-TV" hand-waves that bug me.

I wish I could put my cell phone on an old Commodore-64 and get it to play Aztec Challenge again.

Chakotay always gets the shaft and by the end of the series didn't everything pretty much focus on Seven?

Not always. Season 6 was the low, the time there was the most conflict between the producers and him, though he seemed to get a reprieve in "Tsunkatse" and get a fair amount of screentime. He got decent usage in parts of Season 7. I found it interesting he was basically the one trying to get the shanghaied & brainwashed crew back in "Workforce", that it was basically up to him (and Kim, Neelix and the Doctor, 3/4 of the least liked characters according to the series' biggest haters) to reassemble the crew so Voyager's journey didn't end there. It's one of the only things Season 7 improved over Season 6 (and giving everyone their fair share of episodes focusing on them. Even DS9 Season 7 didn't exactly do that. Quark & O'Brien got the short end of the stick).

Critics claimed Chakotay started dying his hair in Season 6, but I just saw some Season 4 episodes again, and his hair looked uniformly black there (he had more gray in Season 2). I think he just used a different shade of black or one with a different sheen that made it more obvious.

Chakotay always gets the shaft and by the end of the series didn't everything pretty much focus on Seven?

Not always. Season 6 was the low, the time there was the most conflict between the producers and him, though he seemed to get a reprieve in "Tsunkatse" and get a fair amount of screentime. He got decent usage in parts of Season 7. I found it interesting he was basically the one trying to get the shanghaied & brainwashed crew back in "Workforce", that it was basically up to him (and Kim, Neelix and the Doctor, 3/4 of the least liked characters according to the series' biggest haters) to reassemble the crew so Voyager's journey didn't end there. It's one of the only things Season 7 improved over Season 6 (and giving everyone their fair share of episodes focusing on them. Even DS9 Season 7 didn't exactly do that. Quark & O'Brien got the short end of the stick).

Critics claimed Chakotay started dying his hair in Season 6, but I just saw some Season 4 episodes again, and his hair looked uniformly black there (he had more gray in Season 2). I think he just used a different shade of black or one with a different sheen that made it more obvious.

I just meant that in the later seasons, he isn't given as much screen time as Seven. Like Robert Beltran has said...his character was not developed to its full potential.

__________________Once there was a grocery man whose name was simply Louie...until the day his store blew up and his produce went kablewie.

His acting is often just terrible. They developed 7 and the Doctor and I'm pretty sure their sparkling performances had a lot to do with it. Why would anyone want to write gripping dialog for a guy who can't even show some expression when he finds out his lover has betrayed him?

And this is the eleventh episode of season 1! So the theory that poor Beltran was sooo bored after years of being neglected that floats about doesn't bear up.